Following years of fund raising by the group and a generous legacy left by a former member and supporter (Brian Yardley). We managed to secure a part of the Green Street WMC comprising of the former tap room, corridor and toilet downstairs and all of the upstairs rooms, the largest room formerly housed the snooker and pool tables and large screen TV. Upstairs also has four office sized rooms and additional storage spaces. The entire block immediately prior to the establishment of the WMC used to be a shop and a number of cottages which were remodelled into a single property.

Our purchase of part of the building had multiple bonuses. It gave the group premises to develop into a centre for our role as a cancer support group and allowed the club to be refurbished and continue to trade as it is today. It has also benefited other groups who can use the centre. Two of the upstairs former offices have been refurbished and are occupied by two trained operatives who offer complimentary therapies.

The original layout of the WMC had a vestibule at the front with an entrance to the left to one bar and seating area, the other to the right gave access to the tap room and bar, which was originally linked to the other. At the back of the tap room was the entrance through to the main bar and seating area in the largest ground floor room. From the tap room, the corridor gave access to the male toilets and stairs up to the games and TV room and further over the upstairs corridor, offices and committee room.

During rework of the building our half of the building was sealed from the remaining WMC, the entrance from the vestibule was bricked up as was the through route to the original main bar. The corridor leading to the toilet had an emergency fire door exit out onto the street. That has now become our main entrance to our half of the building.

No 2 Green Street.

Entrance corridor, reworked toilet with full disabled facilities through the door on the right.

Left at the end of the corridor and you can see that the former tap room bar has been converted to our new downstairs kitchen and serving bar. We have the usual collections of cupboards and drawers, a built in fridge, oven, hob and extractor, sink and our latest addition for the downstairs kitchen, an instant heat counter top boiler. We retained the original bars top ceiling feature but have added LED downlights for the worktops.

The floor in the old tap room sloped two ways, away from the corridor and also slightly down from the bar area. We had the floor levelled during the refurbishment. A bit of a dark image (flash didn't fire) but this is looking from the entrance into the room.

Again here from the kitchen side.

Better image here with the light behind looking back up to the kitchen.

We completed all the bottom floor first so that we could start to put the centre into use for the support group and other users. We recognised that in order to support everyone who may use the building that the upstairs would no be accessible to anyone unable to negotiate the stairs. We looked at options for installing a lift but without major reworking of the building on both floors this was not a realistic option both on the practicality for the amount of need and the cost.

We decided that a stair lift would be the answer and we launched an appeal for funding help. We had not been running the appeal very long when we received a call from Acorn Lifts who are based in Colne, they asked if they could come along and have a look at our problem. Access was given and one of the engineers came and measured up. He then announced that if we were in agreement Acorn would install a lift free of charge! In addition they would maintain it on an annual schedule. The engineer already had the complete kit in his van and installed it in a couple of hours. All the company wanted in return was a bit of publicity which of course we agreed to and actioned via our website, social media and a press release to the local papers. We don't own it but can use it as long as we are in the building, this was a fantastic donation that effectively allowed us to plan phase two and development of the upper floor.

Back out into the corridor and the stairs are straight ahead, the stairs have a right hand turn half way up. Observant folk will have seen the bottom of the stair lift track on the corridor picture. The lift can be manually or remotely controlled from the top or bottom, we tend to park it at the top.

The main upstairs room used to house a full size snooker table, a pool table and a 50" corner console projection TV, so a usefully large space that can lend itself to a range events once we have finished development. It needs to have a separate catering area and have it's own toilet facilities. The end of the room immediately at the top of the stairs is separated from the main room by a pillar which was formerly a double flue from the original cottages which has been left as a supporting structure, the area is directly above the downstairs corridor and toilet and was used as the main office for the club at one time. We have decided to turn this end of the room into another toilet with full disabled access and another galley kitchen area. I measured up and drew up a basic plan for the joiner to work to, the ceiling is high enough to allow us to under draw it and start again in that area with modern LED downlights.

Here is the new studding (already boarded and plastered) and door into what will become the new toilet area. You can seethe old chimney breast with the mounted radiator.

And the other side of the dividing wall which will become the galley kitchen. It's wider than it looks here and will support a corner base unit, sink and drainer, triple drawer and a fitted fridge unit and cupboards.

I have not photographed down the long upstairs corridor with the adjacent rooms. When I went in the centre one of the therapists was in her room and had a client. The end of the upstairs corridor has the emergency exit for the top floor, it exits onto a fire escape above the flat roof and down into the yard at the back of the club.

Earlier this year we benefited from a team from Marks and Spencer's who came along for two full days and provided the labour to repaint the whole length of the corridor and three of the four rooms. One of the rooms is going to be developed as quiet area where anyone can retreat to our maybe utilise for 1 to 1 counselling or support.

Lots to do yet but ongoing with fantastic continued community support.

Green Street Club is still very much there and thriving now after a full refurbishment. Anyone who has not been for while would not recognise it. Our purchase of part of the building allowed the club to fund the rework.

From the main entrance the door into the tap room was bricked up. The former small saloon bar was opened up and the bar area which used to be on the right was removed. Back and side wall was knocked through into the former main bar, the original main bar area was removed also. All the floors were levelled and a new bar was built along the back wall from the entrance, seating in the old saloon area in front. The rest of what was the original main bar is now fairly open plan with a few high tables and stools, seating around the sides and the snooker, darts, and large screens for the sports etc and room to set up live entertainment. They have a multimedia type machine that acts as a photo booth, juke box, quiz or gaming machine, you just select from a touch screen what you want for your money. It's modern and a very popular venue with young and old alike. Next time you are in the parish have a furtle.

One of our trustees is expert in finding funding sources. We have a few applications in at the moment. Trustees meeting next week and we will see where we are at. A lot of funders like to see a specific project either planned or in progress. That was the basis of our M&S labour in the community arrangement, we funded the materials for painting, M&S supplied 6 members of their staff for two days to help us with the job.

We have regular funding and support from our local CooP. Our recent sponsored walk, all the bottled water, fruit juice, tea, coffee, milk, biscuits and fruit was supplied free from them.

Our shop on town is still the biggest source for the group. We try to source external funding for capital projects and use the shop revenue for direct support back to those who are going through treatment.

It works very well Stanley. We have very few overheads apart from the shop rental and the utilities for the centre. All trustees and volunteers are just that, volunteers, no one gets paid so it maximises the amount that we can redistribute into the community or grant to other groups. Under Charity Commission rules we could employ a manager, many do, especially for a lot of the town centre charity shops, but we have never had the need.

I tried to set up the same structure when I was funding Ellenroad but on a larger scale. Despite the fact the referees I called in said my idea was a licence to print money and the Arts Council agreed to come on board it frightened my board and they wouldn't let me do it. They had the same reaction when I proposed taking over the spare land in Junction 42 on the M62 and creating a park and ride facility. All part of the same plan. I think it was too ambitious for them.

Stanley Challenger Graham
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net

"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!

I believe we had the majority of our new upstairs kitchen delivered yesterday. I will pop round today to see how it's progressing.

I was wrong about the kitchen unit delivery, misheard Gus and it was the day he ordered it. No matter it will come when it comes. Construction not quite ready for it yet but moving on at a pace. I called in yesterday and the electricians were in installing all the cables for the kitchen ring and LED down lights. All that was more or less sorted when I popped in and they were looking for a route through the upstairs corridor wall to give them access to the upper floor consumer unit for the feeds. That wall is about 18 thick and a lot easier to look for an existing route than have to make another. Lighting and power feeds are easy enough to pick up as there are existing circuits in the main room but they need to get a direct 6mm feed from the consumer unit for the cooker and hob. Once that is done the rest of the boarding can go up on the kitchen walls and the under-drawn ceiling. Bits of the floor will have to be lifted then to get the plumbing in, all coming along nicely though.

Thanks Tiz, only possible with the continued support of the community. Lots still to do but making the main room upstairs accessible with it's own facilities will make it a lot more versatile. It will led itself to larger groups for meetings, family gatherings, parties, etc. We are putting full facilities into the upstairs toilet including a shower unit to support users who may have more challenging toileting needs.